MANILA, Philippines?There?s no need to be cronies of the powers that be for your businesses to prosper under an Aquino administration.

This was the message imparted on Thursday by Senator Benigno Aquino III when he spoke to Makati Business Club members in the first of a series of fora that the influential organization will have with presidential aspirants.

Speaking to a standing-room-only crowd, which included many of the country?s captains of industry, Aquino laid out a pro-business and pro-market agenda while distancing himself from often-criticized methods of the Arroyo administration.

?One not need be a crony to succeed in the field of business,? he said, eliciting applause from the businessmen. ?More importantly, government will not compete with business. Nor will government use its regulatory powers to extort, intimidate and harass.?

Aquino told the businessmen that there is a widespread perception that ?success in the business milieu can almost be directly correlated to your closeness to the powers that be.?

In a situation like this, Aquino explained that businessmen are forced to focus their activities on maintaining relationships ?in order to retain the favors that they receive in exchange for cultivating that relationship.?

?This has fostered the wrong kind of competitiveness,? he said. ?While it may work locally for now, it has not enabled these players to become competitive in the world market, where the rules of the game do not take special relationships into consideration.?

Aquino also promised that his administration would encourage ?free and fair competition on a level playing field.?

His eight-page speech, delivered in about 18 minutes, was interrupted by applause at least seven times. At the end of his speech, MBC members?the overwhelming majority of whom have voiced their support for his candidacy?gave him a standing ovation.

Apart from his promise of a crony-free administration, the businessmen also strongly applauded his pronouncement on tax policies that he would adopt, including cutting down on questionable tax breaks granted to certain companies. He promised to spread the tax burden more equitably in order to be able to lower the overall tax rate for all corporate and individual taxpayers.

Aquino also took a veiled swipe at his rival, Senator Manuel Villar, who has been accused by critics of being involved in the C-5 ?double insertion? anomaly.

?If we agree that change is necessary, how can a presidential aspirant, whose own financial and political ethics are questionable, be effective in leading transformation as the head of the bureaucracy?,? he said. ?How can a leader, who is benefitting from the status quo, be able to restore a civic sense of pride in our citizenry? The leader, who has used public office for private gain, will always be the most committed enemy of change.?

Aquino sidestepped questions from the floor about the composition of his economic team, saying he did not want to subject his advisers and their business interests to ?harassment? from his rivals or the sitting administration.

He pointed, however, to his running mate, Senator Mar Roxas, as one of his chief economic advisers who will guarantee policy stability and continuity in an Aquino administration.